DeGoogle Yourself

Hi friend!

• One of the best things abiut GrapheneOS is being able to easily restrict network access for apps. So for a camera app, you can use anything you want, even Google Camera, and just turn off network access so there is no way for Google to spy. The suggestion of OpenCamera is also good. It has a lot of power and options.

• Battery life should be just as good, more or less.

• Sandboxed play services basically means that GrapheneOS gives it fewer permissions on your phone. Normally it has a very privileged position in the OS and is fairly imvasive.

• Its user profiles are very powerful and I highky recommend using them. I recommend not installing samdboxed google play services on yiur main (owner) profile. If you do end up needing google play services for an app, it is better to put it in a separate profile.

If it is helpful, I think of Degoogling as being mostly about replacing services. Graphene is a good atep, but definitely do a checklist of Google services that you use and slowly replace them and take control over your digital spaces. I would recommend dealing with your email as a top priority. Buying a domain (use a common/safe tld) so that you own your address (e.g. [email protected]) will mean no company can ever prevent you from sending or receiving emails on a whim. Using something like fastmail to receive and send emails via your domain will be the easiest first step.

1. Can't change the default icons on the default launcher. I think custom launchers may be able to.
2. I use Open Camera whose quality I would say is fine for my purposes (no kind of professional photography, just taking pics for record-keeping, to show people things, etc)
3. Battery life is way better than stock Android IME. It makes sense cause stock GrapheneOS is so debloated and isn't running all these spyware services in the background.
4. You go to the app called "App Store" (preinstalled), download Google Play, then you use it like a normal Google Play app. Very user-friendly.

Been exclusively using GrapheneOS for ages, never had any problems. It's very easy to install (especially now they have a WebUSB installer) and even easier to use.

• You can change the default app icons easily. The Accrescent store that can be downloaded from the gOS store even have some icon packs that are FOSS.
• You can download the Pixel Camera from the App Store. I would keep it without Network access and remove the meta data with ExitEraser depending of where I am posting those pictures.
• Battery seems the same but you won't have access to Adaptive Charging (when your phone is plugged in it tries to keep your phone without reaching 100% to improve battery life).
• You won't be able to tap cards with your phone unless your bank app provides it. Google Wallet doesn't and won't work.
• I wasn't able to get Android Auto to work at all.
• You will need to be used to apps not working properly and testing the compatibility modes, specially if they use the location services.

I want to de-Google my life. *Buys Google phone...

I've tried all the other map apps, and while they work great for navigation, there's no replacement for reviews on Google Maps. So it's the one Google service I still use.

If you need Google Play services I recommend installing them on a separate profile using Shelter. It's really easy to do. I use that profile for Google Maps and a few other items the require Play services.

U can change icons etc by installing different launcher fdroid has a bunch take a look through to find one u like.

There are a few apps that wont work amazon prime is one. My banking apps work but some people have had issues. Overall ive had no issues that i couldnt solve with dr gpt. Would reccommend.

I use magic earth for maps. It lacks in a lot of ways but is a usable map and navigation system. I like the nav and some of the features bit has (safety alerts, reported police) but the map detail kind of sucks. You zoom in and not every street name is shown. But try it and see if it works for you.

Battery life will be better, and by how much depends on your setup and usage. For instance, I have play services installed, which does eat some battery. But I also turn off location, Bluetooth, mic, camera and sometimes WiFi. I only turn services on when I want to use them. That saves battery. So expect good battery life, but don't expect any miracles.

I used GOS for about a year and a half, it’s pretty great. Tbh I didn’t feel I was really losing anything from the standard Android experience, but of course gaining more privacy and security.

Sandboxed Play Services works great. The only downside is you still need a Google account to use it, even if you only use the account for that purpose. And Google has really clamped down on not letting you create an account without providing a phone number.

But overall I definitely recommend GOS.

I have tried on several occasions to like GrapheneOS. But every time I install it on my Pixel 7, basic functionality breaks. Things like receiving regular phone calls, as in people calling my number using a normal phone. GrapheneOS will sometimes not even ring and immediately display a notification saying "Missed call". If my phone cannot be used as a .. phone, what good is is?

Batter was better. Like by a lot. It became normal when I installed the google play sandbox.

I'm a photographer and don't find the stock GOS camera to be good enough. I use BigKaka's GCAM mod which is Google's camera with even more features. It doesn't require internet access and everything works in version 9.2 on my Pixel 8. It doesn't require google photos like the stock GCam.